"Now the Spirit manifestly saith, that in the last times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to spirits of error, and doctrines of devils..." -St. Paul, 1 Timothy 4:1

Our Duty to Heretics/Apostates

"The faithful are bound to profess their faith openly whenever under the circumstances silence, evasion, or their manner of acting would otherwise implicitly amount to a denial of the faith, or would involve contempt of
religion, an offense to God, or scandal to the neighbor (c. 1325.1)." [Bouscaren & Ellis, Canon Law A Text And Commentary, 1957, p. 725]

Pope St. Leo I (the Great), Reigned 440-461: "He that sees another in error, and endeavors not to correct it, testifies himself to be in error."

1917 Code of Canon Law, c. 731: "It is forbidden to administer the Sacraments of the Church to heretics and schismatics, even though they are in good faith and request the sacraments unless they shall have previously
renounced their errors and obtained reconciliation with the Church."

Pope Eugenius IV, Council of Florence, Sept. 4, 1439: "Moses, the man of God, was zealous for the well-being of the people entrusted to him. He feared that God's wrath would be roused against them if they followed Korah, Dathan and Abiram in their seditious schism. Therefore he said to the whole people, at the Lord's command: depart from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be involved in their sins. For he had perceived, under the Lord's inspiration, that those seditious and schismatic men would incur a grievous retribution, as was demonstrated afterwards when even the earth could not bear with them but by God's just judgment swallowed them up, so that they fell alive into Hell."

"Now I beseech you, brethren, to mark them who make dissensions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them. For they that are such serve not Christ our Lord but their own belly: and by pleasing speeches and good words seduce the hearts of the innocent." -St. Paul, Romans 16:17-18
"Whosoever revolteth, and continueth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that continueth in the doctrine, the same hath both the Father and the Son. If any man come to you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into the house nor say to him, God speed you. For he that saith unto him, God speed you, communicateth with his wicked works." - 2 St. John 1:9-11

"Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? Go out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord" - St. Paul, 2 Cor. 6:15,17

What Must We Believe?

What must we believe? "By the Divine and Catholic faith, all those things must be believed which are contained in the written word of God and in tradition, and those which are proposed by the Church, either in a solemn pronouncement or in Her ordinary and universal magisterium, to be believed as divinely revealed." (Pope Pius IX, Vatican Council I, Denzinger 1792) "Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle." -St. Paul, 2 Thess. 2:14

What is the Sin of Heresy, Schism and Apostasy?

What is the sin of heresy and schism? 1917 Code of Canon Law, c. 1324: "Heresy consists in a pertinacious denial of truths which have been defined and proposed by the Church as divinely revealed doctrines." c. 1325.2: "Any baptized person... who pertinaciously denies or doubts any of the truths proposed for belief by divine and Catholic faith, is a heretic. ...if he rejects the authority of the Supreme Pontiff or refuses communion with the members of the Church who are subject to him, he is a schismatic."

What is the sin of apostasy? St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica II-II,12,1: "It is written [St. John. 6:67]: 'Many of his disciples went back,' i.e. apostatized, of whom Our Lord had said previously [St. John. 6:65]: 'There are some of you that believe not.' Therefore apostasy pertains to unbelief.... Apostasy denotes a backsliding from God... apostasy simply and absolutely is that whereby a man withdraws from the faith, and is called 'apostasy of perfidy.'"

Today's Heresies Condemned

Pope St. Pius X, SYLLABUS CONDEMNING THE ERRORS OF THE MODERNISTS, Lamentabili Sane, July 3, 1907, Condemned: "7. In proscribing errors, the Church cannot demand any internal assent from the faithful by which the judgments She issues are to be embraced." Condemned: " 59. Christ did not teach a determined body of doctrine applicable to all times and all men, but rather inaugurated a religious movement adapted or to be adapted to different times and places."

Pope Leo XIII, Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae, January 22, 1899, Condemned: Americanism - "these new opinions... that in order to more easily attract those who differ from Her, the Church should reshape Her teachings more in accord with the spirit of the age and relax some of Her ancient severity and make some concessions to new opinions... not only in regard to ways of living, but even in regard to doctrines which belong to the deposit of the faith."

Pope Sixtus III, the Council of Ephesus, July 31, 432: "5. If anyone dares to say that Christ was a God-bearing man and not rather God in truth, being by nature one Son, even as "the Word became flesh", and is made partaker of blood and flesh precisely like us, let him be anathema." "And every spirit that dissolveth Jesus, is not of God: and this is Antichrist..." -1 St. John 4:3

1917 Code of Canon Law, c. 2332: "All persons of whatever rank, or condition,…who appeal from the laws, decrees or mandates of the Roman Pontiff to a universal council are suspect of heresy and ipso facto contract
excommunication..." c. 2229.1: "Affected ignorance either of the law or merely of the penalty does not excuse from latae sententiae penalty..."4

Consequences of Embracing Heresy are Serious and Immediate

1917 Code of Canon Law, c. 2314.1: "All apostates from the Christian faith, and all heretics and schismatics: (1) are ipso facto excommunicated..."

Pope Pius VI, Errors of the Synod of Pistoia, Condemned proposition: "47. Likewise, the proposition which teaches that it is necessary, according to the natural and divine laws, for either excommunication or for suspension, that a personal examination should precede, and that, therefore, sentences
called "ipso facto" have no other force than that of a serious threat without any actual effect, - false, rash, pernicious, injurious to the power of the Church, erroneous." (Denzinger 1547)

Pope Innocent III, IV Lateran Council, 1215 A.D.: "We decree that those who give credence to the teachings of heretics, as well as those who receive, defend, or patronize them, are excommunicated..."

Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum, June 29, 1896: "If anyone holds to one single one of these (heresies) he is not a Catholic."

Pope Eugenius IV, the Council of Florence, Feb. 4, 1442: "The Holy Roman Church condemns, disapproves, anathematizes, and declares to be separated from the Body of Christ, which is the Church, everyone who holds any contrary opinions."

Subtle errors in Catholic faith lead to one's eternal damnation...Pope Pius VI, Papal Bull Auctorem Fidei: "[The Ancient Doctors] knew the capacity of innovators in the art of deception... Once the truth had been
compromised, they could, by means of slight changes or additions in phraseology, distort the confession of the faith which is necessary for our salvation, and lead the faithful by subtle errors to their eternal damnation..."

St. John Marie Vianney, (1786-1869): "How many apostates there are, indeed, who have renounced their religion and who are Christians in name only!"